Sora
Sora was OpenAI's AI video generation platform, creating videos from text, image, and video prompts. First released in December 2024 for ChatGPT Plus ($20/month) and Pro ($200/month) subscribers, it relaunched in September 2025 as Sora 2 with a TikTok-style social app generating videos with synchronized dialogue and sound effects, and a December 2025 Disney deal was set to license 200+ Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars characters. OpenAI announced Sora's discontinuation on March 24, 2026; the app and web experience closed on April 26, 2026 and the API on September 24, 2026, and Disney dropped its planned $1 billion investment.
Score generated by AI agents based on publicly cited evidence and reviewed by the project maintainer. Not independently validated. Last assessed 2026-10-01. Score revised 2026-10-01: 51 → 43.
Score History
Timeline events are AI-curated from public reporting. Score trajectory is derived from documented events.
OpenAI previewed Sora on February 15, 2024 to red teamers and selected creatives, with no public product. The live concerns were training-data opacity (Mira Murati was 'not sure' whether YouTube videos were used, and YouTube's CEO warned that would breach its terms) and the parent's governance turmoil, including equity-threatening exit agreements and the Superalignment team's dissolution. In November 2024 early-access artists leaked the tool in protest at providing unpaid testing work.
Sora Turbo launched at sora.com on December 9, 2024 as a perk of ChatGPT Plus and Pro, with watermarked, lower-resolution clips for Plus and ten times the usage for Pro. TechCrunch found it reproduced game content, deepening training-data questions. There was no API and no social layer; OpenAI-wide, the Stargate announcement and the May 2025 decision to keep nonprofit control framed the period.
Sora 2 and an invite-only, TikTok-style app launched on September 30, 2025 and reached No. 1 on the US App Store, but copyrighted characters had to be restricted within three days, deepfakes of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bryan Cranston forced new guardrails, and NewsGuard and Common Sense Media flagged misinformation and teen risks. OpenAI added paid generations, cut free users to six a day and signed a $1 billion Disney deal while downloads fell 32% in December and 45% in January. A court barred the 'Cameo' name in February 2026, and Sora 1 was retired for US users in March.
On March 24, 2026 OpenAI announced it was discontinuing Sora, reportedly to free compute that was costing about $1 million a day. The app and web experience closed April 26 with an export tool and later data deletion, Disney's deal ended, Sora's lead left OpenAI, and the API was removed on September 24 with no replacement named. These are the product's final scores.
Alternatives
Dedicated AI video generation platform with its Gen-4.5 model, offering quality comparable to Sora without requiring a ChatGPT subscription. Standalone pricing starts at $15/month ($12/month billed annually), and Runway offers a developer API.
The leading AI image generator with exceptional artistic quality, which added an image-to-video model (V1) in June 2025 that animates images into short clips. Plans from $10/month as a standalone product, no ecosystem bundling required. A strong pick for image generation, though its video tool is more limited than Sora's text-to-video.
Adobe's AI generation suite trained on licensed content, avoiding the copyright controversies that plagued Sora's launch. Video generation capabilities are more limited than Sora's, but commercial licensing is explicitly included. Integrates with Creative Cloud for professional workflows. Free tier available.
In the News
Dimensional Breakdown
Summaries below were written by AI agents based on the cited evidence. They are editorial interpretations, not independent research findings.
Dimension History
Timeline (46 events)
OpenAI Pays Kenyan Workers Under $2/Hour for Content Moderation
A TIME investigation revealed OpenAI's outsourcing partner Sama paid Kenyan data labelers a take-home wage of roughly $1.32 to $2 per hour to label toxic and traumatic content for ChatGPT's safety filters, while OpenAI's contracts paid Sama an hourly rate of $12.50 (Sama said that rate covered all project costs). Workers described being mentally scarred by exposure to graphic content including child sexual abuse and violence. Sama cancelled its work for OpenAI in February 2022, eight months earlier than planned.
OpenAI Releases GPT-4 While Refusing to Disclose Training Data
OpenAI launched GPT-4 as its most secretive release to date, publishing a technical report that disclosed no details about the model's architecture, model size, hardware, training compute, dataset construction or training method, citing 'the competitive landscape and the safety implications.' AI researchers criticized the report as not transparent or 'open' in any meaningful way, a reversal of OpenAI's founding principles that foreshadowed the same opacity about Sora's video training data.
OpenAI Board Fires CEO Sam Altman in Governance Crisis
OpenAI's board of directors ousted co-founder and CEO Sam Altman, stating they had lost confidence in his leadership. The removal triggered a near-total company collapse as 745 of approximately 770 employees threatened to resign. Altman was reinstated five days later on November 22, with most original board members replaced. The crisis exposed fundamental governance weaknesses in OpenAI's nonprofit oversight structure.
OpenAI Previews Sora Text-to-Video Model
OpenAI publicly previewed Sora, a diffusion transformer model capable of generating up to 60-second video clips from text prompts. The announcement included impressive demos of an SUV on a mountain road, Tokyo snow scene, and California Gold Rush footage. Access was restricted to a small red team for adversarial testing and a group of creative professionals for feedback, with no public release date announced.
YouTube CEO Says Sora Training on YouTube Videos Would Violate Rules
YouTube CEO Neal Mohan stated that if OpenAI used YouTube data to train Sora, it would be a 'clear violation' of YouTube's terms of service. OpenAI's then-CTO Mira Murati had triggered scrutiny by saying she was 'not sure' whether Sora was trained on YouTube videos when asked by the Wall Street Journal, fueling concerns about undisclosed training data sources.
Superalignment Team Disbanded After Safety Leadership Exodus
OpenAI dissolved its Superalignment team days after co-leader Ilya Sutskever and head of alignment Jan Leike announced their departures. Leike publicly stated that 'safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products.' The team, announced in 2023 with a promise of 20% of OpenAI's computing power over four years, was broken up and members reassigned to other teams. The departures underscored growing internal tensions between product ambitions and safety commitments.
OpenAI Reverses Equity-Threatening NDA Policy After Backlash
OpenAI backtracked on exit agreements that, in effect, made departing employees choose between signing a non-disparagement agreement that never expired or keeping their vested equity. An internal memo told former employees OpenAI had not cancelled and would not cancel any vested units; the company said it would remove non-disparagement clauses from standard departure paperwork and release former employees from existing non-disparagement obligations unless mutual. CEO Sam Altman had earlier said the provision 'should never have been something we had in any documents' and that he was 'genuinely embarrassed' by it.
Current and Former Employees Publish 'Right to Warn' Open Letter
Thirteen current and former employees of OpenAI and Google DeepMind published an open letter titled 'A Right to Warn about Advanced Artificial Intelligence,' calling for whistleblower protections. The signatories asked AI companies to stop enforcing NDAs that prevent criticism, create anonymous reporting channels, and refrain from retaliating against public whistleblowing. Six signatories remained anonymous due to fear of reprisal.
SEC Whistleblower Complaint Alleges Illegal NDAs at OpenAI
Anonymous whistleblowers filed a complaint with SEC Chair Gary Gensler alleging that OpenAI's employment agreements unlawfully restricted employees from reporting securities law violations to the SEC. The complaint alleged non-disparagement clauses that did not exempt whistleblowing activities and required employees to waive their rights to whistleblower compensation, potentially violating federal securities law.
OpenAI Raises $6.6 Billion at Record $157 Billion Valuation
OpenAI closed the largest venture capital round in history, raising $6.6 billion led by Thrive Capital with participation from Microsoft, Nvidia, and SoftBank at a $157 billion valuation. The round was contingent on OpenAI restructuring from its capped-profit model to a full for-profit entity within two years, with investors' money returnable if the conversion failed. The deal marked a dramatic acceleration of OpenAI's shift from nonprofit mission to profit-maximizing corporate structure.
Artists Leak Sora Access in Protest Against 'Art Washing'
A group of artists from OpenAI's Sora early-access program released public access to the tool on Hugging Face alongside a manifesto accusing OpenAI of using them as unpaid R&D and PR. The artists said they were 'lured into art washing' and that 'hundreds of artists provide unpaid labor through bug testing, feedback and experimental work for the program for a $150B valued company.' OpenAI cut off access about three hours later and said it had suspended access to Sora.
Sora Turbo Launches as Subscription-Only Product
OpenAI publicly released Sora Turbo at sora.com, bundled exclusively with ChatGPT Plus ($20/month) and Pro ($200/month) subscriptions. Plus users could generate up to 50 videos at 480p or fewer at 720p per month, while Pro users received 10x more usage, higher resolutions, and longer durations up to 20 seconds. The launch established the subscription-bundling model that would define Sora's monetization strategy.
Sora Accused of Training on Game and Streaming Content
TechCrunch testing showed Sora could generate videos mimicking Super Mario Bros., Call of Duty-style shooters and 90s arcade fighting games, and could produce likenesses resembling Twitch streamers Auronplay and Pokimane. An IP attorney said that if training data included video game playthroughs, it was 'overwhelmingly likely' copyrighted materials were included. OpenAI has said only that it used 'publicly available' data and licensed data from stock media libraries like Shutterstock, without disclosing specific datasets.
Stargate $500 Billion AI Infrastructure Project Announced
President Trump announced the Stargate Project at the White House alongside the heads of OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle: a new company intending to invest $500 billion over four years in AI infrastructure for OpenAI in the United States, with $100 billion to be deployed immediately. SoftBank and OpenAI are lead partners (with Oracle and MGX as initial equity funders), and the buildout started in Texas.
OpenAI Announces Sora Integration into ChatGPT, Deepening Bundling
OpenAI's Sora product lead said during a Discord office-hours session that the company intends to integrate Sora video generation directly into ChatGPT, possibly with less control than the standalone Sora web app. TechCrunch noted that putting Sora in ChatGPT could incentivize users to upgrade to premium ChatGPT tiers with higher generation limits, further tying video generation to the ChatGPT subscription ecosystem.
OpenAI Abandons Full For-Profit Conversion After Backlash
After widespread criticism and legal challenges, OpenAI announced its nonprofit would remain in control rather than spinning the business out from nonprofit control. The for-profit arm would become a public benefit corporation controlled by the nonprofit, which would also be a large shareholder. OpenAI said it made the decision after hearing from civic leaders and holding discussions with the offices of the California and Delaware attorneys general, though critics noted the restructuring could still weaken the nonprofit's original governance constraints.
'OpenAI Files' Report Documents Systemic Leadership Failures
Nonprofit watchdogs The Midas Project and Tech Oversight Project released 'The OpenAI Files,' an investigative report compiled from over 200 sources including former employee testimonies. The report documented four core areas of concern: restructuring conflicts, leadership issues including 'psychological abuse' allegations against Altman, transparency and safety failures, and financial conflicts of interest. It revealed that OpenAI quietly altered its original 100x investor profit cap to allow annual 20% increases.
Sora 2 Launches with TikTok-Style Social Feed
OpenAI released Sora 2 alongside a dedicated iOS app featuring a TikTok-style vertical-scroll social feed of AI-generated videos with synchronized dialogue and sound effects. The app launched invite-only in the U.S. and Canada, saw an estimated 164,000 iOS installs in its first two days (Appfigures) and became the No. 1 app on the U.S. App Store on October 3. OpenAI's launch post acknowledged that 'concerns about doomscrolling, addiction, isolation, and RL-sloptimized feeds are top of mind' while building the vertical-feed format that raises them.
OpenAI Staff Publicly Express Discomfort with Social Media Pivot
Several current and former OpenAI researchers posted on X about their unease with the Sora app, OpenAI's first social media product. Pretraining researcher John Hallman wrote that 'AI-based feeds are scary' and that he felt concern when he learned Sora 2 was being released; researcher Boaz Barak said it was 'premature to congratulate ourselves' on avoiding social media's pitfalls. The posts highlighted tension between the app's engagement-driven feed and OpenAI's nonprofit mission.
Sora 2 Copyright Explosion Forces Opt-Out to Opt-In Reversal
Three days after Sora 2's launch with a policy requiring copyright holders to opt out of having their characters generated, OpenAI reversed course: on October 3 CEO Sam Altman announced an opt-in model with 'more granular control' for rightsholders and floated revenue sharing for those who opt in. Characters from Family Guy, South Park and other properties had proliferated in the app. The backlash continued after the reversal: the MPA demanded 'immediate and decisive action' on October 6, and talent agencies WME, CAA and UTA, along with SAG-AFTRA, publicly condemned Sora 2's approach.
NewsGuard Finds Sora 2 Produces False-Claim Videos 80% of the Time
A NewsGuard analysis found Sora 2 produced realistic videos advancing provably false claims in 16 of 20 tests (11 on the first attempt), mostly as fake news broadcasts; five of the claims originated with Russian disinformation operations. NewsGuard also found the visible Sora watermark could be removed with a free online tool in about four minutes, and that it was not clear why Sora refused some prompts and not others.
OpenAI Pauses Sora Depictions of Martin Luther King Jr. After Estate Objects
OpenAI paused users' ability to generate Martin Luther King Jr.'s likeness on Sora after his daughter Bernice King objected to demeaning depictions, saying in a joint statement with the King estate that it was strengthening guardrails for historical figures and that authorized representatives could ask that a likeness not be used. The protection came only after the videos had spread.
OpenAI Tightens Sora Deepfake Guardrails With Bryan Cranston and SAG-AFTRA
After unauthorized clips using Bryan Cranston's voice and likeness appeared on Sora, OpenAI issued a joint statement with Cranston, SAG-AFTRA, UTA, CAA and the Association of Talent Agents committing to stronger guardrails and to respond quickly to complaints. OpenAI reiterated its support for the NO FAKES Act.
Common Sense Media Rates Sora an 'Unacceptable Risk' for Teens
Common Sense Media's risk assessment rated Sora 2 'Unacceptable Risk' for teens, citing easy creation of realistic fake videos, a cameo feature that leaves teens vulnerable to deepfakes and bullying, protections against downloading others' cameos that were easily bypassed, and minimal parental controls limited to the personalized feed, continuous scrolling and direct messages.
Japan's CODA Demands OpenAI Stop Training Sora 2 on Members' Works
The Content Overseas Distribution Association, representing Japanese publishers and studios, sent OpenAI a written request saying a large portion of Sora 2's output closely resembled Japanese content, which it attributed to unauthorized training, and that Japanese law generally requires prior permission rather than an opt-out. It asked OpenAI not to use members' content for machine learning without permission.
Cameo Sues OpenAI Over Sora Feature Trademark Infringement
Celebrity video platform Cameo filed a trademark lawsuit against OpenAI in California federal court over Sora's 'Cameo' feature, which let users generate AI video likenesses of themselves and others. On November 24, U.S. District Judge Eumi Lee granted a temporary restraining order blocking OpenAI from using the 'cameo' mark for Sora features. In February 2026 the judge granted a preliminary injunction, finding Cameo's suit likely to succeed, and OpenAI's feature was renamed 'Characters.'
OpenAI Completes For-Profit Restructuring
OpenAI finalized its restructuring into two entities: the nonprofit OpenAI Foundation holding a 26% stake with special governance rights, and the for-profit OpenAI Group as a public benefit corporation. Microsoft retained a 27% stake valued at $135 billion. The restructuring removed the original investor profit caps entirely, transforming capped-profit shares into regular equity. The Foundation committed $25 billion to health and AI resilience initiatives.
Sora Starts Selling Extra Generations as Lead Calls Economics Unsustainable
OpenAI began selling extra Sora video generations, 10 for $4 through Apple's App Store, on top of a free limit of 30 a day. Sora head Bill Peebles said the economics were completely unsustainable and that free generations would eventually come down, and floated letting rightsholders charge extra for cameos of their characters.
Sora Android App Launches with 470,000 First-Day Installs
OpenAI launched the Sora app on Android in the U.S., Canada, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam. The Android launch saw approximately 470,000 installs on its first day, significantly exceeding the iOS launch numbers. The expansion deepened Sora's social feed reach while extending the ecosystem lock-in strategy to Android users who now had content tied to the platform.
OpenAI Lobbies Trump Administration to Expand CHIPS Act for Data Centers
In a letter to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, OpenAI's chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane argued the government should expand the Chips Act's 35% Advanced Manufacturing Investment Credit beyond semiconductor fabrication to cover AI data centers, AI servers and electrical grid components, saying it would 'lower the effective cost of capital' for the AI buildout. The letter, first published October 27, drew attention after CFO Sarah Friar suggested the government 'backstop' infrastructure loans, a remark she later walked back.
Public Citizen Demands OpenAI Withdraw Sora Over Deepfake Risks
Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen sent a letter to CEO Sam Altman, also shared with Congress, demanding the immediate withdrawal of Sora 2 from all public platforms. It cited deepfake disinformation, violations of name/image/likeness rights, non-nude fetish content disproportionately targeting women, a lack of moderation of age-inappropriate content involving apparent minors, and safeguards bypassed within 24 hours of launch. The letter called the release a reckless disregard for product safety and the stability of democracy.
OverDrive Sues OpenAI Over 'Sora' Trademark Conflict
Library technology company OverDrive sued OpenAI in Ohio federal court, alleging trademark infringement, unfair competition and deceptive trade practices over the 'Sora' name, icon and visual identity. OverDrive's Sora reading app for K-12 schools launched in 2018. The complaint said OpenAI had rejected OverDrive's earlier objections and cited marketplace confusion, including OpenAI customers contacting OverDrive with questions about Sora accounts and technical issues.
OpenAI Cuts Free Sora Users to Six Generations a Day
Sora head Bill Peebles announced that free users would be limited to six video generations a day, citing 'melting' GPUs; ChatGPT Plus and Pro limits were unchanged and everyone could still buy additional generations.
Disney Invests $1 Billion in OpenAI for Exclusive Sora Character Licensing
Disney announced a $1 billion equity investment in OpenAI and a three-year licensing agreement allowing Sora to generate videos with more than 200 animated, masked and creature characters from Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars, excluding talent likenesses and voices. Disney CEO Bob Iger later said the deal included one year of exclusivity. The same week, Disney sent Google a cease-and-desist letter alleging copyright infringement on a 'massive scale', after earlier suing Midjourney, creating a two-tier landscape in which a licensed partner got access while other AI firms faced legal action.
Court Orders OpenAI to Produce 20 Million ChatGPT Logs in Copyright Case
U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein affirmed a magistrate judge's order compelling OpenAI to produce a sample of 20 million de-identified ChatGPT logs to plaintiffs in 'In re: OpenAI, Inc. Copyright Infringement Litigation,' a consolidated action combining 16 copyright lawsuits including The New York Times's. The ruling rejected OpenAI's privacy objections and its bid to hand over only conversations implicating plaintiffs' works; the logs bear on OpenAI's fair use defense.
Sora App Downloads and Spending Decline After Launch Surge
Appfigures data reported by TechCrunch showed Sora's downloads fell 32% month over month in December 2025 and 45% in January 2026, to 1.2 million, with January consumer spending of $367,000 down from a $540,000 December peak. The app had 9.6 million total downloads and had dropped out of the US App Store's top 100 free apps.
Court Grants Cameo Preliminary Injunction Over Sora Feature Name
A federal court in Northern California ruled for Cameo and ordered OpenAI to stop using 'Cameo' in its products and features, finding the name similar enough to cause confusion and rejecting OpenAI's argument that it was merely descriptive. OpenAI had already renamed the Sora feature 'Characters' after a November 2025 temporary restraining order.
OpenAI Retires Sora 1 for US Users, Removing Its Generations
OpenAI ended Sora 1 for US users on March 13, 2026, making Sora 2 the only experience. Generations, likes and remixes made on Sora 1 were removed without automatic migration, users had to export manually beforehand, and image generation inside Sora went away, with users pointed to ChatGPT.
OpenAI Announces Sora Discontinuation
OpenAI announced it would discontinue Sora, saying 'We're saying goodbye to Sora,' and days later set the app and web experience to close on April 26, 2026 and the API on September 24, 2026. The Wall Street Journal later reported Sora had been burning roughly $1 million per day in compute while its worldwide users fell from a peak of about a million to fewer than 500,000; Appfigures estimated lifetime in-app revenue of about $2.1 million. OpenAI framed the shift as 'disciplined focus' on applying compute to enterprise and developer products. The announcement came one week before OpenAI closed its $122 billion funding round.
Disney Cancels $1 Billion OpenAI Investment After Sora Shutdown
Disney ended its partnership with OpenAI, including its planned $1 billion equity investment and the character licensing agreement, after OpenAI announced the Sora shutdown; Disney said it respected OpenAI's decision to exit video generation. No money appears to have changed hands. The Wall Street Journal later reported Disney learned of the shutdown less than an hour before the public announcement. Sam Altman said in a podcast interview that he felt 'terrible' personally telling Disney CEO Josh D'Amaro.
OpenAI Closes Record $122 Billion Funding Round at $852 Billion Valuation
OpenAI completed the largest private technology financing in history, raising $122 billion at an $852 billion valuation. Amazon invested $50 billion, Nvidia and SoftBank each $30 billion, with continued participation from Microsoft and new investors including a16z, D.E. Shaw, and T. Rowe Price. The round included $3 billion from retail investors. OpenAI reported $2 billion in monthly revenue and 900 million weekly ChatGPT users, though projected 2026 losses of $14 billion and $600 billion in committed infrastructure spending.
OpenAI Drops Appeal of Cameo Injunction After Sora Shutdown
OpenAI moved to voluntarily dismiss its Ninth Circuit appeal of the order barring it from using 'Cameo' for Sora features, citing its decision to shut down Sora; Cameo's underlying trademark case continued in district court.
Sora Lead Bill Peebles Leaves OpenAI
Bill Peebles, the researcher behind Sora, announced his departure from OpenAI the same day as Kevin Weil, as the company cut 'side quests' such as Sora and OpenAI for Science to focus on enterprise AI and a planned superapp. TechCrunch noted Sora had been losing an estimated $1 million a day in compute.
Sora App and Web Experience Shut Down
OpenAI discontinued the Sora web and app experiences on April 26, 2026. Users could export content from a sunset page; OpenAI said it would email users if it could offer a final export window and would then permanently delete all data associated with Sora. Purchased ChatGPT/Sora credits could still be used for Codex.
Court Orders Mediation in OverDrive's Sora Trademark Suit
In OverDrive's trademark case over the Sora name, the court cancelled a preliminary-injunction hearing after OpenAI filed a notice regarding the Sora application on April 6, 2026. On August 19 Judge Dan Aaron Polster ordered the parties into mediation in September or October and stayed discovery and litigation deadlines.
OpenAI Removes Sora 2 Models and Videos API
OpenAI removed the Videos API and the sora-2 and sora-2-pro model aliases and snapshots from its API on September 24, 2026, completing a deprecation it announced to developers on March 24. Its deprecations page lists no recommended replacement.
Evidence (41 citations)
D1: User Value Erosion
D2: Business Customer Exploitation
D3: Shareholder Extraction
D4: Lock-in & Switching Costs
D5: Twiddling & Algorithmic Opacity
D6: Dark Patterns
D7: Advertising & Monetization Pressure
D8: Competitive Conduct
D9: Labor & Governance
D10: Regulatory & Legal Posture
Scoring Log (8 entries)
Checked 83 items + prose. 38 verified, 28 corrected (6 date-only), 8 re-sourced, 9 removed (8 junk-source evidence, 1 junk-only timeline event). Invented: (1) Jan 10, 2026 free-tier elimination (only API-reseller/SEO blogs; TechCrunch Jan/Mar 2026 coverage describes free use plus paid credits); (2) 'Sora never released a public API' (Sora 2 API launched at DevDay Oct 6, 2025, Cybernews); (3) Cameo 'permanent' injunction (preliminary, Engadget 2026-02-18); (4) Midjourney 'lacks video generation' (V1 video launched June 2025, TechCrunch); (5) Altman 'told Variety' he felt terrible (said on iHeart 'Mostly Human' podcast, Variety 2026-04-02). Also fixed misquote 'genuinely embarrassing', Sora 2 '25 seconds at launch', MPA statement sequencing, shutdown dates set after Mar 24, d10 narrative errors (Stargate '2021', Cameo suit over 'Sora' name, opt-in 'for training data'), lifetime revenue $1.4M -> $2.1M; removed unsupported SAG-AFTRA quote, 'nineteen artists', competitors 'immediately gained users'.
51->43. Discontinued (badge already present, kept): OpenAI Help Center confirms app/web closed 2026-04-26 and the deprecations page lists sora-2/sora-2-pro and the Videos API removed 2026-09-24; final era scored as the product's last state, no separate present. Since Oct 2025: paid generations (Oct 30) and free cut 30->6/day (Nov 28); NewsGuard 16/20 false-claim videos; MLK estate pause and Cranston/SAG-AFTRA guardrails; Common Sense 'Unacceptable Risk'; CODA demand; Cameo PI (Feb 14) and appeal dropped (Apr 16); Sora 1 US retirement (Mar 13); Peebles left (Apr 17); OverDrive suit ordered to mediation (Aug 19); API removed (Sep 24). OpenAI-wide conduct (governance, fundraising, lobbying, ChatGPT log order) weighted only as context for Sora; Sora-specific facts drive each band. D1 8->7 (recalibration: abandonment with export and notice, not monetization hollowing; 6-7 band), D2 6->5 (recalibration: 6-month API notice, Disney lost no money; opt-out burden and blindsiding keep 5), D3 6->4 (recalibration: private, loss-making, no buybacks; cost-driven cuts fit 4-5), D4 5->3 (correction: rested partly on 'no API'/no export; export tools existed, network small, many rivals), D5 6->5 (recalibration: published feed philosophy and announced limit changes; training opacity remains), D6 4->3 (recalibration: feed with wellbeing polls/teen limits; no deceptive flows documented), D7 3->4 (event: newly documented paid generations and free cut were the last monetization state, not 'dissolving'), D8 4->3 (recalibration: crowded market, no acquisitions/antitrust; trademark overreach and Disney exclusivity), D9 6->5 (recalibration: no layoffs/union issues; parent governance as context), D10 3->4 (event: newly documented NewsGuard, MLK/Cranston reactive guardrails, CODA, Cameo PI). Eras: 'Research Preview' re-dated 2024-02-01->2024-02-15 (preview); 'Subscription Launch' re-dated 2024-12-01->2024-12-09 (launch); 'Social Media Pivot' re-dated 2025-10-01->2025-09-30 and merged with 'Post-Hype Decline' (2026-02-20, an assessment date with no inflection) into 'Social App Boom-Bust'; 'Shutdown' re-dated 2026-04-09 (rescore date)->2026-03-24 (announcement) and relabeled 'Shutdown Wind-Down'. Evidence[11] (Engadget paid credits) moved d4->d7. Product url sora.com returns 403 to scripts (not proven dead); left unchanged. Alternatives still valid.
Triaged 2026-06-29; no rescore warranted (no material change since baseline, or changes sub-threshold).
Periodic rescore: Sora discontinued March 24, 2026. D1 5→8 (product shut down), D2 5→6 (Disney blindsided, API sunset), D3 5→6 ($122B funding, product killed for IPO prep), D4 6→5 (lock-in dissolving via forced exit), D7 4→3 (monetization moot), D8 5→4 (competitive plays unwound). Added discontinued badge.
Added 1 missing dimension narrative